New Animated TV Series Pitch -The Loons of Looneyville

February 21, 2013

Disclaimer: I am not a screenwriter and I’ve never written a script in my life. Having said that, this one is so sure to be the next cable TV hit, I can’t possibly miss. (Executive producers, I will give you my banking and shipping info later, so you can deliver the payments.)

The starring characters: A flock of loons (gaggle, herd…who cares, a lot of loons).

The supporting cast: A raccoon, a wolverine, three deer, six sheep, and an owl and an ostrich.

The set: an isolated island surrounded by a pond, divided from a main highway by a large canyon, and accessed over a single bridge.

The premise: The island and pond are a unique ecosystem that is maintained by shadowy benefactors from somewhere just outside of the view of the cast. The pond and island are very small, and don’t naturally support a fish population. Loons eat fish, so food has to be supplemented, but the loons seldom see who brings it. They do know the highway has something to do with being fed, but they really don’t think about it much, as long as the food arrives on time.

The cast interaction revolves around the personalities of the players and how they deal with real or imagined situations.

The opening sequence:

Sunrise over the pond, with the sun gradually illuminating the scene. Mist slowly rises from the water, and dissipates as the sun rises. A rock outcropping that looks a little like the U.S. capital grounds slowly becomes visible. The deer and the sheep are grazing contentedly in a meadow that looks like a lawn. The owl is perched in a tree, with drooping eyelids, the raccoon is busily flipping over rocks under the water, looking for insects and crayfish for breakfast, and the wolverine is growling and snapping at the ostrich, who doesn’t notice, because his head is underground. Everything is pastoral and serene. Tranquil music is playing.

Action: Scene 1, Take I

The loons suddenly appear with a flurry of calls and all of them try to take off from the pond at once in different directions. Since they have to run on water to get enough air under their wings to lift off, there is a lot of bumping and crashing, since it’s a pretty small pond. There is a lot squawking, flailing of wings and splashing water, but none of the birds actually get airborne.

Scene 2 – All of the loons are screaming at each other, and each is blaming the other for getting in his way, so none of them could take off. This goes on for a long time, in TV terms: maybe 30 seconds or so. The deer flag their tails and take off in a blind panic to get away from the noise. The sheep leave too, but they are more orderly; they all follow their leader. The wolverine snaps and snarls at the loons, but the ostrich still has his head in the dirt so he doesn’t notice. The owl slowly opens his eyes and solemnly states “Why don’t you try just a few of you all going the same way?” The loons don’t even give him so much as a glance.

Scene 5 – One loon, whose voice is louder than the others, (think Foghorn Leghorn) moves away from the flock, and screams “We have to get off the water. The Big Fish Delivery God (BFDG) will be here soon and if we don’t get off the water, we will not be able to get any food and we will starve”

Director’s note to editing: splice in and repeat Scene 1.

Scene 6 – Cut to owl sitting in tree…a large cartoon idea balloon expands over his head. It shows a huge fish and game truck dumping thousands of small fish into the pond. He clears his throat several times and the loons finally look at him. He says “What happened to all those fish the Big Fish Delivery God (BFDG)brought last week? There are lots of them left in the pond”. The loudest loon gives him a pitying look and says, “I’ve already made plans to use all those fish. We needs thousands more fish or our plans won’t be completed.” You are really not very wise if you don’t understand that!

End of episode 1

###########

I’m telling you, this thing can’t miss. There is so much material for this concept, it will run longer than any other series ever. Option it now while it’s still available. I give a discount if you use gold instead of paper money. No checks or credit cards accepted.

Copyright Notice

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rebecca L. Baisch and Musings From Street Level with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.